Australians Strongly Oppose Public Funding of Political Parties

Three in five Australians oppose public funding of political parties and candidates while 27 percent support it, found a recent survey on political funding.

This opposition spans across voters from all political affiliations, reflecting a broad national consensus against using taxpayer money to fund election campaigns.

Graham Young, Executive Director of the Australian Institute for Progress, interprets this resistance as a belief that “political parties should earn their way, not be propped up by taxpayer dollars.”

“Public funding tends to favor the status quo parties, who have the infrastructure and knowledge to navigate the system, while it disconnects parties from their supporters,” he told The Epoch Times.

Young highlights that raising funds should be a responsibility of the political parties themselves, and failure to do so is a reflection of their strength in the community.

“If they can’t raise sufficient funds to run a campaign, then they are unlikely to be effective in parliament,” he asserts.

The survey, conducted by the Australia Institute in July, also sheds light on alternative funding methods.

About 39 percent of Australians expressed interest in the concept of “democracy vouchers,” a system inspired by a model used in the United States. It would allow voters to allocate public funds in the form of vouchers to candidates of their choice.

Young sees this concept as a “gamification of public funding,” explaining that under the current system, candidates receive $3.35 per eligible vote. In contrast, democracy vouchers could significantly increase public funding by up to 1,793 percent, translating to around $60 per vote, depending on exchange rates and voter participation.

While voters may find the idea of vouchers appealing because it doesn’t directly involve their own money, Young warns that initial enthusiasm could turn to cynicism.

“If it were implemented, I think you would find cynicism would set in pretty quickly as voters realised it wasn’t an improvement on the old system,” he says.

When asked why the current public funding system has failed to gain support, Young points to two primary factors.

“Voters don’t think their hard-earned taxes should be transferred to politicians of any sort,“ he notes, adding that public funding hasn’t improved democratic outcomes but has simply led to ”bigger spending election campaigns.”

The survey also reveals a widespread opposition to increasing public funding. Seven in ten Australians (71 percent) are against raising funding for political parties, with opposition highest among voters for One Nation (92 percent), the Coalition (78 percent), and independents (71 percent).

Young argues that reducing or eliminating public funding could lead to more modest election campaigns and force parties to better engage with voters.

“It would need other reforms than just eliminating public funding, but it would be a plus for politics and political parties,” he concludes.

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